Inferior
by SuperWG
Summary: Modern AU. Lapis is tired of being (negatively) compared to his sister, leading him to be somewhat depressed and antisocial. But young man named Yamcha enters his life and shows him all of the love and acceptance that Lapis never expected to get.


**Author's Notes- Hey guys, I've got another one shot here. I had my one shots set to come out in a specific order, but I've been getting inspiration for some things that I wasn't going to write until later. These aren't related, so there's no harm in releasing this right now. Also, I used some of my OCs for some of the roles, but the story focuses on Lapis. Anyway, enjoy!**

 **I don't own any of the characters or anything.**

 **Inferior**

"What's the point?" A disgruntled voice moaned.

Lapis walked down the halls of his college, angry thoughts rolling around in his head. Why did he even have to go to these stupid classes? He was majoring in technological engineering, but so far he wasn't feeling it.

"Oh, shut up. All you do is complain. You're so immature." His sister, Lazuli, reprimanded him. The two of them had been walking to their first class of the day.

"Hey Lazuli. You're looking pretty hot today." A guy said that Lapis didn't know.

"Buzz off. You know I have a boyfriend." She spat at the guy. The guy walked away with a sad look on his face. As they walked, Lapis could hear girls' voices gossiping.

"Hey look, it's Lazuli."

"All the guys have the hots for her, right?"

"A lot of them do, yeah. She's pretty cool though."

"Lazuli's an okay person, but her brother… ugh, he's so immature! I don't see how she puts up with him."

"Oh yeah, he's so obnoxious. I can't believe some girls still like him."

"Well, he is kind of cute."

"Cute, but immature. I can't deal with him."

"Me neither. Ugh, why couldn't their parents leave him at home and just send his more sensible sister here?"

At this point, Lapis had split up from his sister. She must have gone to class ahead of him. He knew he would get an earful from her for what he was about to do, but she wasn't around right now. He decided not to bite his tongue this time.

"Hey, why don't you two keep my name out of your mouths, you stupid skanks!" Lapis shouted at the two girls. He stormed away before they could respond, though he caught a glimpse of their shocked faces.

Lapis was fuming inside. He really hated how people talked about him. And he was so sick of always being the "immature" one or the "bad" one. He thought going to this college with his sister would be nice, since he wasn't the most social person in the world and he'd have at least one person to talk to. But he hadn't been anticipating people constantly comparing the two of them. And he definitely hadn't anticipated everyone deciding that they liked her so much better than him, or rather, that they didn't like him at all. Back when they were younger, the two used to always have little arguments, but no one else ever stepped in to say who was right and who was wrong. But that changed when they came here. People always chimed in to agree with her about why he was wrong. At first, he thought it was just guys doing it so they could get into his sister's pants. But then the girls started doing it too! He was good looking, why weren't any of them biased towards him?! You would think at least one person would agree with him, but nope. Lapis was somehow always wrong when he argued with his sister.

Lapis pulled out his MP3 player and stuck his headphones into his ears. He turned on the song "Chloe" by Emblem3. That song's chorus talked about someone feeling inferior to their sister. He knew that there was probably some deeper meaning to it, but he didn't care. It brought him solace.

The other thing that sometimes brought him solace was nature. He had an interest in it, and sometimes he liked to hang outside and just listen to the birds chirp or the crickets make noise. This was his only hobby that didn't somehow invite people to call him immature. He wished he could enjoy some nature right now. But he couldn't, because he had class.

The class was boring, no surprise there. At that moment, he couldn't even remember what the name of the course was. But good thing he still had his MP3 in his ears. He didn't have to listen to the teacher drone on and on about technology he didn't care about. Suddenly, he looked up and the teacher was right in front of him with a stern look on her face. He pulled one of the earbuds out from his ear.

"Lapis, you know that you are not supposed to listen to your music while in class. Now take those out of your ears! Honestly, why can't you be more like your sister? She's so well behaved, while you constantly try to ignore my class." The teacher said as she walked back towards her desk, and then turned around. "Now class, for this next assignment, you'll be required to work with a partner. You each must come up with three ways that technology has helped you in your everyday lives. You may pick your own partners, but the assignment is due by the end of class."

Great. No one would want to be his partner. Now he was going to have to beg someone to work with him. Lazuli's boyfriend, Krillin, was in this class, so she decided to work with him. Lapis sighed, looking around the room to see who he'd have to convince to be his partner.

"Hey, Lapis, right?" A male voice said. Lapis turned to see a dark skinned guy with black hair and hazel eyes. "My name's Spin, and I was wondering if you wanted to be my partner."

Lapis was surprised. Someone wanted to be _his_ partner? And this guy wasn't exactly bad looking, either. Lapis allowed himself to enjoy a little hope. It seemed that someone actually liked him.

"Okay." He said simply.

The first thing that Lapis came up with for ways that technology helps them was that his MP3 player made it so that he didn't have to listen to his boring classes. Spin chuckled at that. Lapis couldn't even remember what the other two ways they came up with were. The assignment was easy, so they were done way before the bell rang, and Lapis and Spin spent the rest of the class just kind of chatting idly.

"So, why do you like that song so much?" Spin asked.

"Honestly, I just kind of feel the lyrics, you know? I'm not sure what the whole song means, but I really don't like to think too hard about it." Lapis replied.

"I know what you mean. I like a lot of songs just for the catchy tune. I have no idea what some of them are supposed to be about." Spin said. "Music is meant to be enjoyed. Whatever reason we have to enjoy it pretty much is what it is."

Lapis was pleasantly surprised yet again. He was swearing that anyone who heard of his reasons for liking songs without knowing the deeper meanings of them would chalk it up to him having "immature" taste. Just as he was about to respond, the bell rang. This was the next to last class of the day, so he'd have one more, and then he could go home.

"Hey Lapis, umm… do you maybe want to hang out after school, like, at your house?" Spin asked as they were leaving.

"At my house?" Lapis questioned.

"Yeah. I would have suggested my house, but my brother might have his friends over there and they can get pretty loud." Spin explained.

"Sure, I guess. We can listen to some of the music we were talking about." Lapis agreed.

"Awesome. I'll meet you here after next class." Spin said.

"Sounds like a plan." Lapis said.

The whole next class, Lapis was looking forward to hanging out with the attractive young man. The guy hadn't actually said that it was a date, but Lapis couldn't help but hope it was one. Lapis was bi, after all.

As promised, Spin was there to greet him at that spot in the hall once the last class was finished. He saw Lapis and flashed a smile.

"Hey, let me just go tell my brother and Noam that I'm not going home with them today so that they can find a ride. I'll be right back." Spin told him.

Lapis nodded, and Spin walked away to do what he said he would do. As Lapis was waiting patiently, he saw his sister storm up to him with an angry expression on her face.

"What did you do to my two friends earlier today?" She demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He responded.

"You called two of my friends skanks!" She accused. Oh yeah, _those_ two girls.

"They talked bad about me!" Lapis argued.

"You didn't have to call them that! One of them started crying after you said that. How could you?" Lazuli told him.

"Easy for you to say. They only ever say good things about you!" Lapis yelled.

"Well it's not my fault they like mature people more than they do idiots like you!" Lazuli yelled back.

"Yeah, well, your stupid friends can cry their eyes out for all I care. I have my own new friend who's hanging out with me when I get home." Lapis boasted.

"UGH!" Lazuli said, storming away.

It was about five minutes after that when Spin returned. "Alright, we're good to go."

As they started walking through the halls, Lapis decided to make small talk. "So, you told your brother and your friend to walk home and get some exercise?" He joked.

Spin laughed. "Nah, they caught a ride with my brother's friend Rono."

Lapis had heard of Rono. He was kind of a feisty dude. Not someone he ever wanted to have to deal with.

Lapis had walked to school that day so that he could listen to his MP3. The drive to school was too short for him to get to listen to it as much as he wanted, and plus his sister would never let him listen to it in her car. So when they were going to his house, they rode in Spin's car. The car was a rather fancy Lexus. Lapis was impressed with the backup cameras and built-in GPS system.

"Nice car." He commented.

"Thanks." Spin said modestly.

"Is your family rich or something?" Lapis asked.

"I wish, but no." Spin replied.

"Really? How did you get this nice car?" Lapis wondered aloud.

"Funny story, actually. There was this guy who I didn't like because he was kind of a bully. One day I learned that this guy had stolen this fancy car. I helped catch him three days after he had taken it. But when the police went to give it back, the victims didn't need it anymore. It turned out that _they_ were rich, and they had already bought a new car. Since they still wanted the guy arrested because he was a jerk, and I helped catch him, they decided to let me have the car for myself." Spin explained.

"Wow." Lapis chuckled. "I guess it pays to be a Good Samaritan."

Soon enough, they had reached Lapis's house. For whatever reason, Lazuli hadn't come home yet. They walked through the door and sat down in the living room.

"Honestly I'm surprised you wanted to hang out with me." Lapis blurted out.

"Huh? Why?" Spin asked, seemingly perplexed.

"Most people only care about wanting to be around my sister." Lapis said.

"Well, your sister is pretty good looking, but I think you're a pretty cool person to hang out with too." Spin told him. "Wait, is that why you like that song?"

"Actually, yeah. It is." Lapis said. "All people ever do is compare us, and they always say I'm the 'bad' one. Having a 'hot sister' sucks, man."

"I never really thought about it that way." Spin admitted.

At that moment, Lapis heard the door open and close. Then he heard a sigh. Lazuli was home.

"I've never actually heard the whole song before. Maybe we can play some video games with the sound off and listen to it." Spin suggested.

"Sure. How do you feel about _Modern Warfare 3_ for the game?" Lapis offered.

"Sounds good. I don't play those shooting games too much, but I'm so good at video games, I'm sure I'll pick it up quite easily." Spin bragged.

"We'll see about that." Lapis told him with a competitive smirk.

The two of them launched into a gaming session. At first, the two had been playing against each other, but Spin was proven wrong when Lapis beat him every single time. Lapis started to get bored with that, so they switched to cooperative gameplay. At first, Spin was doing very poorly and Lapis was basically carrying the both of them. But as the gaming session went on, Spin started adapting and getting better and better at it. Lapis was honestly surprised that he picked it up that day. Most people's learning curves took at least a week before they got the hang of the game. It was also nice to have someone to play with, since his sister deemed herself too mature for video games. They also listened to music while they played, and Spin expressed that he had similar tastes in music to Lapis. He even suggested that Lapis listen to a song. It was "Bored" by The Summer Obsession. Spin said that Lapis would like it, and honestly, he did.

It was about an hour into their gaming session when Lapis got up. "I'm just going to the bathroom."

"No problem." Spin said.

Spin waited patiently for him to return. Lapis was done in the bathroom and about to return to their gaming session when he heard Spin and his sister talking.

"So you came here to play video games with my lame brother?" He heard Lazuli say with an amused tone.

"Yeah. I mean, I don't think he's lame. He actually seems kind of cool." Spin replied.

"So, which one of us do you like more? Me or him?" Lazuli asked him flirtatiously.

She couldn't have been flirting with him, could she? She had a boyfriend after all.

"Well, I don't know. I like both of you." Spin stammered. And one second later, he spoke again, sounding even more flustered. "Umm, w-what are you doing?"

"What, are you really uncomfortable being this close to someone like me?" Lazuli's voice was definitely taking a flirtatious tone now.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to take a look. He quietly rounded the corner, careful not to alert either of the two to the fact that he saw them. He wanted to see what they would do behind his back. He saw Spin sitting on the couch and Lazuli sitting right next to him, very close, with her arm around him. Spin seemed to be leaning slightly away from her, but at the same time, his face was flushed. And considering the fact that Lapis could see the flush on a guy that had a skin complexion dark like Spin's was, he must have been extremely flustered.

"I thought you had a boyfriend?" Spin asked nervously.

"Come on. Are you really going to pass up a chance to kiss me? I heard you talking to Noam about how hot you thought I was." Lazuli told him, leaning into him even more.

"W-what? You heard that?" Spin stumbled.

Lazuli chuckled. "No. But you just told me."

"Uh…" Spin seemed like he didn't know what to say.

"So you want to make out with me right?" Lazuli pressed. Spin seemed like he made a move to kiss her, but she put her finger to his lips. "First you have to tell me that you like me better than him."

"Really? Okay, fine. I think you're a lot cooler than your lame brother." Spin said out of desperation.

As the two proceeded to make out, Lapis wanted to scream. The one person who he thought liked him turned out to like his sister more. He had a rather vengeful thought cross his mind as he eyed her phone in the next room. Quietly making his way over there, he picked up his sister's phone without her knowledge. Her phone was unlocked, so he turned it on. And the first thing he saw was a text from one of her friends.

 _So you ARE going to seduce your brother's new friend? Way to get back at that jerk for calling us skanks!_

She had planned this! Unbelievable! Lapis opened the rest of the conversation, and he saw her whole scheme. As soon as she found out he was hanging out with Spin, she started talking to her friends about how cute he was. One of them suggested Lazuli seduce him, and as it turned out, it was one of the girls he had yelled at that morning.

He'd had his doubts about what he was about to do out of spite, but now he was sure that she deserved it. He went to her phonebook and found Krillin's number. Lapis sent him a text from her phone.

 _Come over quick! No time to explain. It's urgent._

It wasn't long before a reply came from Krillin.

 _Okay, babe. I'll be right there._

Lapis didn't even have to wait long. He went and unlocked the door so that Krillin could come in quickly. His plan worked, and only about ten minutes after he sent the text, Krillin burst through the unlocked front door. The short guy wasted no time hurrying through the house, though Lapis saw him spot Lazuli after taking just a few steps into the house. Lapis also saw Krillin's face contort with shock, hurt and betrayal, as Lazuli was still making out with Spin.

"Lazuli…" Krillin said with despair. Lazuli jumped up at the sound of her name, and her eyes went wide when she saw him.

"Krillin!" She shouted in surprise. "I- I can explain…"

"You texted me and told me to come here! Why? How could you?" Krillin wailed. But he didn't wait for an answer. Instead he bolted from the house.

"Krillin wait!" Lazuli yelled after him, but it was useless. He was already gone. Lapis heard Krillin's car start up and speed off.

Lapis looked at Spin, who was looking back at him like he knew he was in trouble. But before either of them could say anything, Lazuli came back inside and quickly retrieved her phone. She didn't have to sift through it to see the text to Krillin. Putting two and two together, she pointed at Lapis with a thunderous look.

"YOU!" She screamed. "YOU DID THIS!"

"I think I should go…" Spin said awkwardly.

"Yeah, I think you should." Lapis told him.

"You know, I didn't mean what I said about you being lame-" Spin started.

"We're done here!" Lapis said with an air of finality. Spin took the hint and left.

He saw Lazuli still glaring at him, but he didn't care. He was furious with her. "How could you do that to me?" She said with hurt in her voice.

"How could _I_? How could YOU?! I had one friend. One friend! And you had to go and seduce him! And you knew I liked him! I saw your stupid text messages to your friends!" Lapis screamed at her.

"Your immaturity may have ruined my relationship with-" Lazuli started but Lapis cut her off.

"Oh, SHUT UP about my 'immaturity'! You think what you did was mature? You always want to talk down to me like you're so high and mighty! Go screw yourself!" Lapis screamed, storming up to his room before she could respond.

He got to his room and shut the door. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now, least of all his sister. He pretty much stayed in his room for the rest of the night, not even coming down for dinner or anything.

…

The next day found him at a lunch table by himself, as usual. Though today, he was a bit more bummed about it.

"I need to talk to you, Lapis." A voice said. He looked up to see Krillin standing there with a serious expression on his face.

"What?" Lapis asked somewhat rudely.

"I know you sent me the text from Lazuli's phone telling me to come over. I'm just curious, why?" Krillin asked.

"Honestly, I'm sick and tired of everyone saying that she's so much better than me, and that guy she was making out with was the one person that actually seemed to like me. She did it for spite because I yelled at one of her friends." Lapis told him honestly.

"Wait, you _liked him_ liked him?" Krillin asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?" Lapis asked.

"No! No! I just… I didn't think you were actually into guys." Krillin stammered. "Anyway, I can definitely relate to you right now. I can't tell you how many times I heard people saying that I'm too ugly to be with your sister. But I've learned to live with it."

"So you and her are getting back together?" Lapis asked.

"I don't know. That Spin guy told me I should give her another chance. But I don't know if I can. My friends are a little split with giving me advice on what to do." Krillin said.

"Spin talked to you?" Lapis asked.

"Yeah. He says he feels really bad about what he did, and that Lazuli did too, and that it didn't mean anything." Krillin said. "A-anyway, the reason I came to talk to you was that… well… one of my friends actually knew that you were into guys. I didn't believe him when he said it, but he wanted to see if you would eat with him today."

"Oh really?" Lapis questioned.

"Yeah." Krillin said awkwardly.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. Send him over here." Lapis told him.

"Okay." Krillin said and walked back to his table. A few minutes later another guy approached. He had long black hair and a scar on his face. Yet Lapis found him highly attractive.

"H-hey." The guy said shyly. Guys sure did seem shy around him.

"Hey." Lapis responded.

"Umm… nice day, huh?" The guy stammered.

"Yeah, it was. Until you came to bother me." Lapis said with a smirk. The guy adopted a horrified expression. "Relax, I'm just kidding. I'm Lapis."

"Oh okay, phew! Well, I'm Yamcha. Nice to meet you." The guy said with a nervous laugh.

"Likewise." Lapis told him.

"Can I sit here?" Yamcha asked.

"Sure. I could use some company every once in a while." Lapis said.

Yamcha sat down. "I thought someone like you might be a bit of a loner."

"No. I just get tired of people ridiculing me all the time, you know?" Lapis said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. My own friends make fun of me all the time because I don't score as many points on the football team as they do. I try to tell them that I'm better at baseball, but none of them seem to ever hear it." Yamcha told him.

"What kind of friend treats a person like that?" Lapis said.

"I think they all think it's a joke. I want to tell them I don't like it, but I don't want to seem like a wimp." Yamcha said.

"Trust me, there's nothing wimpy about not wanting your own friends to make fun of you." Lapis told him. "If you want, I'll go with you to talk to them."

"Thanks, dude! Also, Krillin doesn't do it, only the others do." Yamcha said.

"Tell me, did my sister do it too?" Lapis asked him.

Yamcha looked down. "Yeah. She pretty much can't stand me. She always tells my ex-girlfriend, Bulma, how she can't believe she used to date a 'loser' like me."

"Yamcha." Lapis called, causing the scarred boy to look up. "You are not a loser. Come on, let's go talk to them right now."

The two boys got up and made their way to the table that Yamcha normally sat at. Lapis strode up to the table, ready to have a talk with them.

One guy looked up just as they both reached the table. "Hey, you're Lapis, right? I'm Goku, nice to meet you!" Lapis was taken back by the sudden kindness.

"Hey, it's great to see you two getting along." Krillin said.

One girl sighed. "Yamcha, what is _he_ doing here?"

"I'm here to tell you guys that Yamcha doesn't like being made fun of. So if you guys truly are his friends, you would stop." Lapis declared.

"Huh? Really Yamcha? I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a big deal to you. I won't do it anymore." Goku said.

"Maybe you should practice more in football instead of staring at all the girls and guys." One boy said.

"Oh, Piccolo, do you really have to be so mean to him?" Goku said to the boy.

"It's the truth." Piccolo said.

"Yamcha, you are a pathetic baby who not only can't play sports, but don't even have the guts to say anything yourself and have to hide behind that idiot!" Another boy said.

"Vegeta, come on!" Goku complained.

"He's right, Goku." The girl, who had asked what Lapis was doing there, said. "And he got Lapis of all people. He's annoying just like his cheating sister."

"Geez, Bulma. I thought you and her were friends." Another girl said.

"Really, Chi-Chi? After she cheated on Krillin you think we should still be her friend?" Bulma responded.

"Well, I don't know. It seemed like only a one-time thing, and she seems really sorry. Plus that guy told Krillin she didn't mean anything by it." Chi-Chi said. "Also, I don't think Lapis is such a bad guy. I mean, can we really judge him since we don't even know him?"

"My sister did that to get back at me for blowing up on her friends. Take that whatever way you want. But lay off Yamcha, okay?" Lapis told them. "Come on, let's go."

As soon as Lapis turned to walk away, the bell rang. Lunch was over.

"Hey, I think you're in my next class. Want to walk together?" Yamcha asked.

"Sure." Lapis told him.

As they were walking, the halls were crowded. Someone jostled Lapis aside.

"Watch it, you idiot." Lapis wanted to ignore it, but the girl, who had spiky black hair, continued. "Ugh, it's Lazuli's immature brother."

"Hey, leave him alone!" Yamcha suddenly came to Lapis's defense.

"Or else what, you loser?" The girl taunted, shoving Yamcha to the ground. This made Lapis angry.

"Don't you ever do that to him again!" Lapis shouted, shoving her in retaliation. This caused the girl to fall to the floor.

"Hey, don't touch my girlfriend!" A male voice shouted. It was Rono. Lapis braced himself.

Rono ran up and tried to punch Lapis in the face, but Yamcha tripped him. Rono fell to the ground, but immediately got back up. He hit Yamcha with a powerful punch in the face. Blood spurted out of Yamcha's nose as he fell to the floor.

Lapis saw red as this happened, and not from the blood. He was filled with rage. He literally ran up and jumped into the air, turning himself sideways and kicking Rono in the chest with both feet. Rono went crashing to the ground, and his head smashed against the wall. But the stunt had Lapis crash to the ground hip first.

He felt Yamcha help him to his feet, but he was having a hard time walking. But Rono was getting back up as well.

"You're going to pay for that!" Rono roared. He charged at the two of them. They moved to the side to avoid his initial tackle attempt, but now he was ready to make another.

"Hey, what's going on here?" A voice said. A teacher made his way over to the scene.

"We're just trying to get to the nurse. That guy and his girlfriend were harassing us, and he gave my friend this bloody nose." Lapis was quick to say, pointing at Rono.

"What? No, he attacked my girlfriend!" Rono accused.

"One of them has a bloody nose and the other is limping. Meanwhile you and she look perfectly fine. I think it's clear who the aggressor was here." The teacher said. "I'll help you two to the nurse if you need, and I'll let the headmaster know about those two."

Once they got to the nurse, they were allowed to skip the rest of their classes for the day and stay there to let their injuries heal. They learned that Rono and his girlfriend had been suspended. Even though Lapis had only sustained the injury he more or less inflicted on himself, he was able to pin that on Rono too. He didn't feel bad though. Rono was a total jerk.

"Hey, you okay?" Lapis asked Yamcha.

"Yeah, man. How's your hip?" Yamcha said.

"It's okay. I'll live. I just hope my sister doesn't notice when I get home. I know she'll give me a lecture." Lapis replied.

"Hey, do you maybe want to come over my house?" Yamcha offered.

Lapis thought for a moment. The last time someone offered to hang out with him after school, it had ended so badly. It made it hard for him to accept Yamcha's invitation. But he couldn't let that fear stop him forever. He had to take the chance.

"Yeah." Lapis agreed. It appeared that Yamcha saw him thinking.

"Don't worry. Me and your sister would never make out." Yamcha said.

…

When they got out of school, Yamcha drove them to his house. It was a good thing, because otherwise Lapis would have had to somehow convince his sister to drive him home without her knowing what had happened earlier than day. And he was still mad at her.

Yamcha's house wasn't particularly fancy or anything, but it was good enough.

"So, you have any video games we could play?" Lapis asked.

"Sure, I have a couple of racing games. Want to try those?" Yamcha offered.

"Hmmm… what else do you have?" Lapis inquired. He was hoping for one of those shooting games.

"I got some football and baseball games, but that's it." Yamcha told him. Lapis wasn't big on those games.

"We can play a racing game." Lapis said.

"How about _Midnight Club_? I know it's old, but I always play it because honestly, it's more fun than the newer racing games, and there's more things that you can do in there." Yamcha explained.

"Okay, let's try it." Lapis said. He had never heard of that game before, but he'd give it a shot.

The game was decently fun. Yamcha was right, even though you could race in it, there was a lot more stuff to do in there. This game actually had its own list of songs that you could play in-game, but Lapis didn't really like any of them.

"Hey Yamcha, do you think we can maybe turn some music on?" Lapis suggested.

"Uhh… sure. Let me try and find some." Yamcha said.

He went to his computer and fiddled around with it for a bit. He eventually found something. "How about this?"

Lapis looked and saw a YouTube video titled "Ultimate Gaming Mix" that was about three hours long. He looked at Yamcha for an explanation.

"It's not your traditional music. It's like the kind you'd listen to while meditating or doing yoga, but it's specifically for gaming. I don't know if it's meant for solo gaming or not, but it couldn't hurt to try it." Yamcha told him.

"Okay, put it on." Lapis said simply.

Surprisingly, Lapis enjoyed the music. It kind of made things quiet, which wasn't what he had originally had in mind, but it worked out. Now he learned something he could do at home if he wanted to relax. Hell, he wished had known about this the day he caught his sister with Spin. It would have been the perfect thing to pass the time. After the gaming session was over, they talked about the cool things that had happened in the game. Yamcha's parents were nice too. They allowed lapis to eat dinner with them, and surprisingly, the food was decent.

It was eight o'clock at night when Yamcha dropped Lapis off at his house. He made it to his room without his sister bothering him. He did his homework and only had about an hour to enjoy another gaming mix while playing video games before he needed to go to bed.

…

The next day, Lapis was back in the Technology studies class, which was the class he had been in the day he met Spin.

"Now class, for your assignment, which is due tomorrow, you need to work with three other people. Your partners are already assigned, but don't worry, the person that you worked with the other day will be in your group. Now I'll pass out the group assignments and you guys can get to work." The teacher instructed the class.

Guess who he was assigned to work with? Spin, Lazuli, and Krillin. Just great.

Spin looked like he didn't know what to do when the group met in the assigned area. Surprisingly, Lazuli and Krillin didn't look awkward in the least. In fact, they seemed to be getting along.

"Look, I know you're mad at me and Spin, but can you at least talk to us long enough to get this assignment done?" Lazuli told him, knowing he wasn't happy.

Lapis just looked at her with a scowl. He wasn't ready to make nice.

Krillin sighed. "Look, Lapis, I've forgiven your sister. Why can't you?"

"Because she never even admitted that she was wrong. All she ever does is pass off every problem that I have as 'immaturity'. I could say that I forgive her now, and she'll just keep treating me the same way she always has." Lapis explained.

"I know I haven't been entirely fair to you." Lazuli said. "When Krillin's friends all got mad at me and the other students decided that I was a slut, I found out what it was like to be constantly ridiculed by everyone around you."

"The other students decided you were a slut?" Lapis questioned.

"Yeah." Krillin chimed in. "Those so called friends who put her up to it didn't bother to help her when the others started calling her names. They just went along with it."

Despite the fact that he was mad at his sister, Lapis felt a stab of anger at hearing how the other girls had betrayed her.

"You were right, bro. They are skanks. I'm sorry for what I did to you." Lazuli said. Lapis realized that he couldn't stay mad at her forever. After all, he made mistakes sometimes too. Plus, she seemed to finally understand him.

"Okay, I forgive you." Lapis said. "And if I see those girls, I'm going to let them have it again."

"I actually already told them that it wasn't cool what they did." Spin spoke up. "And Krillin really ripped into them. Listen, I didn't mean to mislead you. I'm straight. When I asked to hang out, I only wanted to be friends. I had no idea that you and your sister had some sort of rivalry going on."

"I told you about it!" Lapis said.

"I forgot about that. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time, and I'm sorry." Spin said.

Lapis sighed. "It's cool. I actually have someone else that I'm interested in. But you're welcome to hang out with us sometime if he's cool with it."

"Awesome." Spin said. "Also, I haven't done it yet because I've been scared to, but I'm really going to let Rono have it for what he did to you yesterday."

"Wait, what happened yesterday?" Lazuli asked.

"Rono tried to attack Yamcha and me, but we're fine." Lapis told her.

"Yamcha?" Lazuli questioned. "Anyway, Rono better not mess with you again, or he'll have to take it up with all three of us."

"Well alright then. I guess our problems are solved and we can start our assignment now!" Krillin declared.

…

The group spent the rest of class doing their assignment, and then the teacher told them to finish it for homework. Now they would have to meet at one of their houses. They decided to meet at Krillin's house. Of course, Yamcha called Lapis and heard that he made up with his sister and Spin, and that Lazuli and Krillin had made up as well. He had asked if he could meet up with them once they were done, and everyone agreed.

Now Yamcha was at the door. Lapis was hoping to be the one to greet him, but Krillin beat him to it.

"Hey Yamcha!" Krillin greeted. Lapis was by his side only a second after he opened the door.

"Hey Krillin, Lapis." Yamcha responded. He had a backpack with him.

Lapis and Krillin led Yamcha to the living room, where the others were waiting. Spin looked up and cast a nervous smile, and Lazuli smirked.

"Yamcha, this is Spin. Spin, meet Yamcha." Lapis introduced.

"Hey man, nice to meet you." Spin said politely.

Yamcha seemed wary. Lapis could understand, since what he had done caused trouble not only for him, but for Krillin too, who Yamcha was friends with.

"It's okay, it was a misunderstanding. He won't let it happen again." Lapis assured.

"Okay. But if it does, he and I are going to have a problem." Yamcha stated, giving Spin a stern look.

"I promise, it won't. I really am sorry for it, Lapis." Spin said, putting his hands up.

"It's okay." Lapis told him.

"If he forgives you, then I'm cool with you too." Yamcha said. "So, who wants to play some video games?"

Yamcha opened his backpack to reveal a gaming console and a small selection of games. Spin's eyes widened.

"Wow, man." Spin said.

"Pretty cool huh?" Yamcha said, seemingly showing off to an impressed Spin.

"You guys and your lame video games." Lazuli said. Yamcha looked up at her with a hurt expression, but Lapis could see the playful smirk on her face. "Relax, I'm just kidding."

"You and Lapis both like to do that, huh?" Yamcha asked.

"Pretty much." Lapis told him.

Lazuli came and put her hand on Yamcha's shoulder. "I know I gave you a hard time, but I think if Krillin and my brother see something in you, you must be doing something right. Are we cool?"

"Y-yeah, sure. We're cool." Yamcha answered.

The whole group ended up playing video games. Lazuli even took a couple of turns, though she didn't play as much as the others. They played _Midnight Club_ and some other racing games, all of which had their own music. At first, everyone just listened to the music on the games, but eventually they started to put on other music from outside of the games.

They didn't listen to the Gaming Mix though. Lapis pulled Yamcha aside and told him not to put that on. That would be something that they only did with each other.

…

The next day, Lapis went to Yamcha's house to pick him up. It would be their first official date. He was dressed somewhat casually as he strode up to the front door and knocked. A few seconds later, Yamcha opened the door.

"Hey Lapis. You look nice." Yamcha greeted.

"So do you." Lapis told him. Yamcha had also been dressed casually, yet he still looked amazing.

Lapis was somewhat confused when, rather than stepping out to go to the car, Yamcha moved aside and beckoned him inside. But Lapis decided to humor him, so he stepped inside. He walked a few steps and saw two plates set up on the table, each with a cheeseburger and French fries.

"Oh, we're having the date here?" Lapis inquired.

"I was going to give you a choice. We could have it here, or we could have it somewhere else. Follow me." Yamcha told him.

Lapis nodded and followed him into the next room, which was the living room. He had the video games and the Gaming Mix music all set up.

"If you want, we can bring the food in here and have a party, just you and me. I know this isn't your typical date, but I figured you'd like it. It's pretty good for a loser, huh?" Yamcha explained.

Lapis never really cared for fancy dates. He liked the whole 'Netflix and chill' type of situation. He had never told Yamcha that he was like that, yet somehow the other boy knew exactly what he wanted. Yamcha was amazing, Lapis decided.

Lapis just stared at him. Yamcha's smile faltered, and it looked like he was beginning to worry. Then, without warning, Lapis grabbed him and placed a lingering, passionate kiss on his lips. Yamcha seemed hesitant at first, but he slowly started to kiss back. After a while, when they both needed air, they separated.

"I love your idea. I can't imagine a more amazing date. Other people might think that there's something wrong with us, but there isn't. And it doesn't matter what other people think about us. I'd rather be a loser with you than be 'cool like my sister'. It's worth it to have you."

Yamcha was still dazed from the kiss, but he heard everything Lapis had said. All he could do was smile brightly.

Lapis said one more thing. "Let's bring the food in here."

 **Author's Notes- Well, that's the end of the story. I really struggled with this one because I didn't plan as much of it as I usually do with one shots. I hope it turned out okay. As always, reviews are appreciated.**


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